We know Illinois as the Prairie State, but that moniker is a bit out of date. According to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Illinois was once covered by 22 million acres of prairie. Now that number has dwindled to a mere 2500 acres. For decades, preservation groups have been restoring prairies across the state, including in local forest preserves where they’ve cut down trees and brought back native grasslands. The process is not without controversy. Some activists don’t agree with the removal of healthy trees and question the need for prairie restoration in the Chicago area. We’re joined by Kayri Havens, the senior director of ecology and conservation at the Chicago Botanic Garden and Bill Glass, an ecologist for the U.S. Forest Service stationed at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie in Wilmington, Illinois. Plus, Petra Blix an environmental activist from Trees for Life and the Urban Environmental Alliance joins us in studio.